Yancey tenure as superintendent marked by change

Published: Monday, November 19, 2012 at 6:15 p.m.

Last Modified: Monday, November 19, 2012 at 6:15 p.m.

It was early 2003 when then-Superintendent of Schools Jim Warford told his right-hand administrator, Jim Yancey, that he was leaving to become Florida's K-12 chancellor in Tallahassee.

Facts

Changing of the guard

Tuesday at 11 a.m. at the School Board headquarters, 512 SE Third St., newly elected Superintendent of Schools George Tomyn and School Board members Nancy Stacy and Carol Ely will be sworn into office.

Warford said he had asked Gov. Jeb Bush to appoint Yancey as Marion County's next superintendent of schools. But at the time, Yancey was unsure of himself.

He was unsure because he had run for superintendent of schools in 1992 and lost the GOP primary to Evelyn Kelly, mother of former School Board member and state legislator Kurt Kelly. Evelyn Kelly would later lose the general election to John Smith in 1992.

But Yancey did reluctantly agree to let Warford fight for him. And by summer 2003, Bush did appoint Yancey, who at the time was Marion's deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction.

Yancey was then in charge of overseeing a School District that was quickly growing toward 40,000 students and 6,000 employees.

It has been nine years since Yancey took over as the leader of Marion County's largest employer.

On Monday, he spent his last day on the job before retiring, and will officially hand over the reins to George Tomyn on Tuesday.

It has been a challenging nine years. Yancey watched as a statewide financial boom turned into recession. Once leading the charge in building new schools during a population explosion, Yancey was forced to cut district budgets.

"One of the things I am most proud of is the fact that we have cut $50 million in the last five years without laying off one person," said Yancey, who achieved downsizing through attrition despite issuing threats of layoffs through the years.

Yancey said there were many successes throughout the last decade, but none as important as:

• Ending a 30-year-old federal desegregation order in 2007 by integrating schools to the satisfaction of the federal government.

• Helping the graduation rate rise from 60 to 86 percent, six percentage points higher than the state.

• Adding magnet programs to high schools, many of which have since become nationally ranked.

But despite so many successes, Yancey said he will forever be affected by the worst event on his watch: a bus accident that killed North Marion Middle School's Margay Schee on Sept. 23, 2008.

"Though a few other children have died at bus stops since I have been superintendent, this one was especially hard because it involved transportation and she was killed by a driver who was not paying attention," Yancey noted. "That was the low point."

Yancey said another low point is that he wishes more Marion County parents would get involved in their child's education.

"I hope Marion County residents value their child's education," he said. "I would love to see more support for public education. I would love to see more parents getting involved."

Yancey noted that voters in Orange, Seminole and Alachua counties passed a 1 mill tax for their school districts. Marion voters shot it down.

Yancey also said he is disappointed in the statewide Republican Party, specifically lawmakers. Yancey, a Republican, said those legislators have abandoned the party mandate of less government and more local control.

"Instead, they gave us more rules and regulations and less money," he said.

Yancey said that the new board and new superintendent will be facing significant challenges, considering the state government and local taxpayers are not willing to pump more money into the district.

"We need to make sure our kids are competing in the world market," he said. "We must fight for more money."

Yancey believes Tomyn will do a good job and was somewhat surprised at the speed with which Tomyn announced his new administrative team.

"I was not surprised that changes were made, just how fast," Yancey said. "I have confidence that he will do what is best for our children."

Yancey said he is ready for retirement.

"I'm just waiting to see how quickly I can get on a golf course," Yancey said. "When I am on the golf course, I don't think about anything except making that little white ball go where it is supposed to."

School Board member Ron Crawford last week actually gave Yancey a present that will help him in his golfing endeavors: monogrammed golf balls to help Yancey identify errant shots that end up in the woods or in other hazards.

Though Crawford and Yancey often did not agree, Crawford said Yancey will be missed. The four-term board member said Yancey's passion was for the children.

Yancey said he will miss children the most. In fact, children got him through the tough days when he was working as superintendent.

"When I had a bad day, I would go to the elementary schools," Yancey said. "It is always great to see how excited they are."

Contact Joe Callahan at 867-4113 or joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter at JoeOcalaNews.

<p>It was early 2003 when then-Superintendent of Schools Jim Warford told his right-hand administrator, Jim Yancey, that he was leaving to become Florida's K-12 chancellor in Tallahassee.</p><p>Warford said he had asked Gov. Jeb Bush to appoint Yancey as Marion County's next superintendent of schools. But at the time, Yancey was unsure of himself.</p><p>He was unsure because he had run for superintendent of schools in 1992 and lost the GOP primary to Evelyn Kelly, mother of former School Board member and state legislator Kurt Kelly. Evelyn Kelly would later lose the general election to John Smith in 1992.</p><p>But Yancey did reluctantly agree to let Warford fight for him. And by summer 2003, Bush did appoint Yancey, who at the time was Marion's deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction.</p><p>Yancey was then in charge of overseeing a School District that was quickly growing toward 40,000 students and 6,000 employees.</p><p>It has been nine years since Yancey took over as the leader of Marion County's largest employer.</p><p>On Monday, he spent his last day on the job before retiring, and will officially hand over the reins to George Tomyn on Tuesday.</p><p>It has been a challenging nine years. Yancey watched as a statewide financial boom turned into recession. Once leading the charge in building new schools during a population explosion, Yancey was forced to cut district budgets.</p><p>"One of the things I am most proud of is the fact that we have cut $50 million in the last five years without laying off one person," said Yancey, who achieved downsizing through attrition despite issuing threats of layoffs through the years.</p><p>Yancey said there were many successes throughout the last decade, but none as important as:</p><p>• Ending a 30-year-old federal desegregation order in 2007 by integrating schools to the satisfaction of the federal government.</p><p>• Helping the graduation rate rise from 60 to 86 percent, six percentage points higher than the state.</p><p>• Helping raise the minority graduation rate from 50 to 79 percent, 10 percentage points higher than the state.</p><p>• Helping the dropout rate go from 3.1 percent to a half a percent.</p><p>• Helping to lower third-grade retentions from 600 to 145 annually.</p><p>• Adding magnet programs to high schools, many of which have since become nationally ranked.</p><p>But despite so many successes, Yancey said he will forever be affected by the worst event on his watch: a bus accident that killed North Marion Middle School's Margay Schee on Sept. 23, 2008.</p><p>"Though a few other children have died at bus stops since I have been superintendent, this one was especially hard because it involved transportation and she was killed by a driver who was not paying attention," Yancey noted. "That was the low point."</p><p>Yancey said another low point is that he wishes more Marion County parents would get involved in their child's education.</p><p>"I hope Marion County residents value their child's education," he said. "I would love to see more support for public education. I would love to see more parents getting involved."</p><p>Yancey noted that voters in Orange, Seminole and Alachua counties passed a 1 mill tax for their school districts. Marion voters shot it down.</p><p>Yancey also said he is disappointed in the statewide Republican Party, specifically lawmakers. Yancey, a Republican, said those legislators have abandoned the party mandate of less government and more local control.</p><p>"Instead, they gave us more rules and regulations and less money," he said.</p><p>Yancey said that the new board and new superintendent will be facing significant challenges, considering the state government and local taxpayers are not willing to pump more money into the district.</p><p>"We need to make sure our kids are competing in the world market," he said. "We must fight for more money."</p><p>Yancey believes Tomyn will do a good job and was somewhat surprised at the speed with which Tomyn announced his new administrative team.</p><p>"I was not surprised that changes were made, just how fast," Yancey said. "I have confidence that he will do what is best for our children."</p><p>Yancey said he is ready for retirement.</p><p>"I'm just waiting to see how quickly I can get on a golf course," Yancey said. "When I am on the golf course, I don't think about anything except making that little white ball go where it is supposed to."</p><p>School Board member Ron Crawford last week actually gave Yancey a present that will help him in his golfing endeavors: monogrammed golf balls to help Yancey identify errant shots that end up in the woods or in other hazards.</p><p>Though Crawford and Yancey often did not agree, Crawford said Yancey will be missed. The four-term board member said Yancey's passion was for the children.</p><p>Yancey said he will miss children the most. In fact, children got him through the tough days when he was working as superintendent.</p><p>"When I had a bad day, I would go to the elementary schools," Yancey said. "It is always great to see how excited they are."</p><p><i>Contact Joe Callahan at 867-4113 or joe.callahan@starbanner.com. Follow him on Twitter at JoeOcalaNews.</i></p>